Being declined mortgage repayment holiday for silly reason. Is this really right?

[cupofcoffee]

My mortgage has a repayment holiday option. You have to have made at least 9 consecutive monthly payments to qualify for 1 month holiday and can take a maximum of 3 months holiday at a time. If you miss payments or go into arrears then you do not qualify for this option until you have caught up with the payments and then made at least 9 regular payments after that.

I spoke to them a while back about taking a one month holiday in August (this will be the last month of my maternity leave and was trying to plan how long I could stay off work for) and they said yes that would be ok as long as all kept up to date in the mean time and said to call nearer the time to arrange if I wanted to go ahead.

All payments have been made and account is not in arrears. Spoke to them today to request the payment holiday for next month and they said no. Reason was because one of my payments in the last few months was made a day early. My payments are due on the first of each month and are usually made on the first of the month. However the first of May was the Saturday of the bank holiday weekend and so the payment was made on the 30th of April.

So the April payment was made on first April, the May payment made on 30th April and the June payment made on first of June.
They said that because 2 payments were made in April and none in May I have broken the 9 consecutive payments thing and now have to start from scratch to build up enough time to qualify for a payment holiday.

Was it your bank that did the direct debit early and is your mortgage with the same bank?

No my mortgage and bank account are not with the same company.

For the past few months I have made the payments on the mortgage manually via internet/phone banking. I used to pay by direct debit but we have recently changed bank accounts so I need to set up a new direct debit.

I was turned down for a repayment holiday for no reason at all. Have never ever in 20 years been late with a payment (for the mortgage or anything else but when i rang them a few months ago to look into exercising the option they just said "you don't qualify" and refused to tell me why.

I regularly check my credit report and it is definitely completely clean.

Needless to say when my current tracker deal ends in November I will be moving to another company.

Oh, by the way, i would ask to speak to someone more senior, OP, about this decision, as it is obviously being made on the basis of automatic computer-generated routines. The call centre people have to use these and can't override them but a more senior manager should be able to help you.

You may have to insist quite loudly, though, or else write in to their complaints department.

just ring up and ask to speak to a manager, or failing that, to have the explanation but in writing. also mention you will contact ombudsman to understand whether or not you have been treated fairly. that should but the frighteners on them!

dancing hippo how do you regularly check your credit rating?

sounds crazy, you have made 9 consecutive payments, regardless of whether in same month or not, I'd get back to them

It's all computer generated iirc from my hideous time with Intelligent Finance. The system will disallow a mortgage holiday for exactly the reason you've described, and the bored youth customer service adviser will then read out the script on screen that is then generated informing you that's it's been declined on that basis.

You need to go back to them, refuse to speak to an adviser and tell them that you want to speak to a superviser. Don't let them fob you off with "they are not available to take your call, please let me try and help", as it's only supervisers and managers who can put through a request to have your application looked at by the mortgage team (this was the situation in IF, not sure if it's exactly the same with your bank but I would imagine it won't be too dissimilar). Threaten to move your mortgage unless they grant you this holiday, and perhaps contact the banking ombudsman if they are still the complaints body - it's been a few years since I was with them.

Yes I'm sure you're right about it all being computer generated decision. Will try to speak to someone more senior to see if they do anything.

Posy - I have a subscription to Creditsafe which lets me check my credit report amy time and alerts me by email whenever there is a change. There are several other similar services.

I took this out after a bad experience with attempted identity theft a few years ago.

thanks so much hippo will look at that now - sounds interested

What about instead of a payment holiday you could convert to an interest only for a few months? My bank let me do this but it cost something like 70 to change over - and you can change back to repayment whenever you want? I also didn't have to pay the 70 quid straight away they actually added it to my mortgage. HTH

Inzidoodle makes a very good point if you have maid a payment early. I would inform them you want to make a complaint, they then have to acknowledge it and respond to you. if the answer is not satisfactory you can then complain to the Insurance Ombudsman.
There is an edict from the FSA out at the moment called 'Treating The Customer Fairly' In your case it clearly does not and I would take it further. The banks and mortgage companies have a shocking record when dealing with their customers and should not be allowed to get away with it.

This is a wonderful opinion. The things mentioned are unanimous and
needs to be appreciated by everyone

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I think that mortgage companies have suddenly become very wary of mortgage holidays. I have been over 10 years with the same provider, never missed a payment and was still refused a mortgage holiday. I pointed out that I met all their conditions and was told that the rules had changed - so I asked what I needed to do to qualify and they said (in writing) that they could not tell me this but that it was unlikely that they would grant a mortgage holiday anyway ... Financial crisis for you - banks make profits and we pay and pay

jon002, I don't get it sorry ???

BTW I did get my repayment holiday. As suggested I spoke to someone who was 'above' the computer. They did advise though that in future circumstances it is better if I pay a day or so late rather than early if it would mean 2 payments one month and none the next. They say as long as the payment enters in that month it will not show as late even if it is not made on due date of the 1st.

computer says no...common sense bypass of telephone rep. Speak to manager. alternatively ask to move repayment date to day before you now pay hence get almost two months between payments?

was it is your bank or you work for any.

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Oh gosh I have just stumbled onto this thread by chance and I am now terrified as I am having my first baby next year and was completely and utterly banking on having a mortgage holiday to get me through it. I assumed we would definitely get it, I didn't even know that they could be rejected. And I'm extra, extra worried because recently we went into arrears for less than half a month's mortgage when due to an administrative error they didn't take all the money out of my account, so I'm anxious that this will be used to turn me down when I ask for a holiday next year.

Jeez. I must check my credit rating.

zerominuszero, yes check your credit rating, but in my case the rejection was nothing to do with the credit rating. My account had never gone into arrears. My problem was just because I had 'missed' a month without a payment because I had made the payment in the previous month (by one day).
It would be worth asking your mortgage company now if the error has shown up as an arrears on your account because if so, and it was due to an error on their part, you have time to get them to correct the situation.

cupofcoffee thanks and my sympathies for this bizarre reason for getting turned down.

I have spoken to the f'kingbstards bank about my problem and what she said was "it won't affect your credit rating and while you were technically in arrears we know it wasn't a a large amount, we know that it was less than half a month's payment so it shows up as zero plus on your account so it's fine"

It might be fine if I knew what she meant by "zero plus". Even my mum who works in a bank doesn't know what she means

Insane reason for refusal. But you could go interest only for a while, or even extend the term of your mortgage temporarily - my lender charges £20 to make a change like this and you could make a very big difference to your monthly payments - long term stupidity of course, but as a temporary measure it could really help out.

I want to hire a bouncy council house - where can I find one? Help!
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